Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the task of servicing such vehicles as, for example, fork lift trucks, or airport maintenance vehicles. Such vehicles have this in common, that the vehicle is heavy, and the vehicle has such a low ground clearance that servicing underneath the vehicle requires the vehicle to be lifted off the ground. The invention is aimed at providing apparatus for safely and conveniently supporting the heavy vehicle in a wheels-raised-off-the-ground condition.
In the usual manner of operation of the apparatus, the vehicle is lifted off the ground by means of a crane, or jack, then the support apparatus of the invention are placed underneath the wheels, and the vehicle is lowered down onto the support apparatus.
The support apparatus hold the vehicle off the ground at a sufficient height to enable a mechanic to work underneath the vehicle. It is the intention that the apparatus as described herein be placed underneath the wheels, while the wheels remain on the vehicle. However, the apparatus can alternatively be used as axle stands, for supporting the vehicle when the wheels are removed.
Previously, the task of supporting low-ground-clearance vehicles off the ground for servicing has been done by lowering the vehicle down onto wooden planks. Occasionally, a prudent chief mechanic, seeing the dangers inherent in that, will have a set of wheel-stands welded up. But generally such wheel-stands are not satisfactory: they take up too much room in the shop when not in use; they have not been tested to a safe load; they are not properly designed; they are not made to proper safety margins and standards; and the possible failure modes have not been thought through. All the same, such welded-up wheel-stands are a considerable improvement over wooden planks.
The invention is concerned with providing an improved support apparatus, which combines economy of manufacture with proficiency of performance.